Various industries are increasingly turning to large-scale equipment to meet operational demands. As industry develops large-scale equipment, it seeks large-scale components, such as seals and o-rings. Often, the large-scale equipment is located in remote harsh environments, increasing demand for durable and hardy seals. For example, as the oil and gas industry seeks to drill in deeper water, the scale of the equipment used is increasing and, as a result, the demand for more durable, large-scale products that can survive harsh environments increases. However, conventional methods for forming thermoplastic seals do not produce large diameter seals having desirable mechanical properties.
One conventional method includes compression molding. Conventional compression molded seals have poor mechanical properties, such as low elongation-at-break. As a result, seals formed through such conventional compression molding techniques tend to have a low durability and poor performance.
Other conventional techniques limit the size of the seals that can be made and tend to produce a significant amount of waste. For example, circular seals may be cut from an extruded sheet of thermoplastic material, leaving a significant amount of waste material. In addition, the size of the seals is limited by the width of the sheet of thermoplastic material.
As such, a new method of forming a seal would be desirable.
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